Russian Spaceship Docks at Station

KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) _ A Russian spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a Belgian astronaut docked with the international space station Friday, two days after lifting off from the Kazakh steppe.

The Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft, with its controls on autopilot, moored itself to the station in an automatic docking procedure. The craft was carried into orbit by a Soyuz FG rocket launched Wednesday from Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

Flight engineers monitoring the docking on a large screen at the mission control center in Korolyov, just outside Moscow, burst into applause as the spacecraft met the international station. The crew reported on the approach that all was proceeding normally.

The Soyuz crew includes Capt. Sergei Zaletin, Belgian first flight engineer Frank de Winne of the European Space Agency and second flight engineer Yuri Lonchakov. They are set to return to Earth in another Soyuz, leaving their own ship behind as a new lifeboat for the station's permanent crew.

The liftoff, originally set for Monday, was delayed after an unmanned Soyuz-U booster rocket blew up 30 seconds after blasting off from Russia's Plesetsk launch site Oct. 15. A foreign object was found in the rocket's fuel line, space agency officials said this week.

The Soyuz FG, a modernized version of the Soyuz-U, was tested in two unmanned launches prior to the manned mission, as required by the Russian space agency's safety standards, said Valery Lyndin, spokesman for Russia's mission control center in Korolyov, just outside Moscow.

The current mission is the first manned flight of the Soyuz TMA-1, an upgraded version of the Soyuz spaceship that has been a mainstay of the Soviet and Russian space programs since its first launch in 1966.

In comparison with its predecessor, the Soyuz TMA-1 features an improved control system and more comfortable seats that can accommodate physically larger crew members, Lyndin said.

"The ship's control system uses a new software and is more convenient for the crew," Lyndin said.

The Soyuz seats could accommodate cosmonauts up to 6 feet 2 inches tall and 187 pounds, while seats in the new version are fit for people nearly 6 feet 8 inches tall and up to 220 pounds.

"The new ship is good even for a stout space tourist," Lyndin joked.

The cash-strapped Russian space agency has sought to supplement scarce government funding with revenues from paying space tourists. California businessman Dennis Tito paid the Russian space agency about $20 million for a weeklong trip to the station last year, and South African Mark Shuttleworth did the same in April.

Russian space officials hoped 'N Sync singer Lance Bass would fly on the current mission. He trained at the Russian cosmonaut center, but was bumped from the crew and replaced by Lonchakov after his sponsors missed several payment deadlines.

The international space station's crew now includes American Peggy Whitson and her two Russian crewmates, who have been living aboard the orbiting complex since June. They are scheduled to return to Earth on the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour, which will bring a replacement crew to the station later this month.